Ground Rules

The Left Bank’s Ground Rules

General Access

Anybody is welcome and is free to read all posts, comments, opinion pages, and any other public pages on this site. In order to post, you will be required to provide a username and email address. Optionally, you can include a URL to your own website.

Violations of the following rules can lead to a warning email from the administrator, the commenter being put on a moderation list, or the commenter being blackballed from the site.

Commenting Rules

This site is intended for adult use, so, in general, there are few restrictions on language. The exceptions are referring to the poster or other commenters, or any other person who may be a subject of the discussion, in offensive terms. For example, you can say, “Your plan to improve healthcare is really fucked up.” But, you can’t say, “You are an asshole, and your plan is really fucked up.”

No personal argumentum ad hominem attacks are permitted, be they directed to other commenters, posters, or public figures. No matter how much you disagree with the poster or other commenters, try your best to make your responses using reason and facts. Mockery, insults, or attempts to discredit another’s arguement by trying to discredit the person making the argument will not be tolerated.

Flame wars are also not permitted, and any two-person back-and-forth should be limited so as not to interfere with the overall discussion.

The inclusion of other URLs in the body of a comment is limited to two, neither of which should be one’s own site, unless you are specifically referencing a relevant post. Using the site for search engine optimization (SEO) is forbidden. It is preferable for commenters to use one of the URL shortening services (like BitLy) rather than posting long and complicated URLs (including your own website, if so desired).

If the comment provides links to other blog sites, the person following the link must agree to familiarize herself with that site’s policies and requirements before participating.Trolling is not permitted. Obvious trolling, like blatant attempts to provoke a flame war or to disrupt and redirect a discussion will lead to being blackballed. More subtle trolling will be judged by the community in general, and if a sufficient number of readers